York Region elementary teachers plan Monday job action

Elementary school teachers in the York Region District School Board will begin boycotting certain duties on Monday, the local union president confirmed.

David Clegg said that the nearly 5,000 teachers in the union will begin sanctions on administrative and ministry-oriented duties. However, teachers will not be be pulling out of supervisory roles and will maintain contact with parents as usual, he said.

Parent-teacher interviews scheduled for next Friday will proceed. The York board and union will next meet on Nov. 30, Clegg said.

Monday is the first day York teachers will be in a legal strike position and other elementary teachers across Ontario will follow suit in two to three weeks.

All 76,000 elementary school teachers in the province will likely be in a legal strike position before the Christmas break, according to the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).

As for high schools, 12 more boards will soon be taking strike action to the 20 already in that position, a spokesperson for the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) told CityNews.

A list of affected boards will be made available later on Friday, Lori Foote said.

The OSSTF job action started Monday in 20 boards, including Toronto, where teachers are refusing to supervise students outside of class and are suspending some administrative duties.

That same day, OSSTF president Ken Coran insisted the job action in its current state won’t affect day-to-day activities in the classroom.

Some elementary schools have cancelled their Christmas concerts as the labour dispute between teachers and the Ontario government escalates.

Toronto District School Board trustee Jerry Chadwick said Thursday that 12 of 18 schools in his Ward 22 have cancelled their concerts.

Many Remembrance Day ceremonies were also cancelled or changed.

Those were the latest actions by teachers fighting Bill 115 — legislation passed by the provincial government in September that imposed a two-year contract on teachers, including a wage freeze, fewer sick days and a ban on strikes and lockouts.

Four education unions — ETFO, OSSTF, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union — have filed court challenges against the legislation.

After the bill passed, the teachers’ unions urged members to withdraw from voluntary activities, including leading extracurricular programs — a move that sparked widespread student protests.

With files from Shawne McKeown

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